Older brother of student's killer gets prison on accessory charges

WORCESTER — The older brother of the man convicted of murdering 21-year-old Michelle L. Diaz was sentenced to prison today after pleading guilty to accessory charges arising from the 2010 fatal shooting.

Marcus Young, 30, formerly of 23 Jefferson St., was sentenced to 4 years to 4 years and a day in state prison after pleading guilty in Worcester Superior Court to being an accessory, after the fact, to murder and being an accessory, before the fact, to armed robbery.Charges of murder and being an accessory, before the fact, to murder were dropped by prosecutors under a plea agreement in the case. The sentence imposed by Judge James R. Lemire was recommended by Assistant District Attorney Michael D. McHugh and Mr. Young's lawyer, Robert M. Griffin.Mr. Young's 20-year-old brother, Donovan K. Smith, also formerly of 23 Jefferson St., was found guilty Tuesday of first-degree murder and attempted armed robbery in the Aug. 24, 2010, slaying of Ms. Diaz, who was shot in the neck in her car on Fairfax Road during what police and prosecutors said was a failed attempt to rob her of money and marijuana.Mr. Smith was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.Mr. McHugh told Judge Lemire today that Mr. Smith, Mr. Young and three co-defendants, William Madison, Kassie Ago and Kenny Roman, were part of a plan to rob Ms. Diaz. The prosecutor said Mr. Roman suggested Ms. Diaz as the target of the robbery because she was believed to possess large sums of money and quantities of marijuana, but also warned that she might be “strapped,” street slang for carrying a firearm.Although no weapon was found on Ms. Diaz's person or in her vehicle after she was fatally shot with a hollow-point bullet, Mr. McHugh said Mr. Young insisted that his younger brother bring a gun belonging to Mr. Madison with him to rob her.Ms. Ago set up the holdup by calling Ms. Diaz and arranging to have Mr. Smith meet with her, purportedly to buy $200 worth of high-grade marijuana, according to Mr. McHugh.Ms. Diaz's wallet, containing $129, was found in her 1996 Lexus after the shooting. Police also discovered $200 worth of marijuana in an aerosol can with a false bottom that was underneath the vehicle.Mr. Madison, Ms. Ago and Mr. Roman all testified at Mr. Smith's trial under cooperation agreements with the prosecution. They said they had been promised consideration in the form of reduced sentencing recommendations in exchange for their cooperation. Ms. Ago said Mr. Smith returned to her apartment at 6 Vernon Street Place a short time after the failed robbery and told her he had shot Ms. Diaz. She testified that Mr. Young suggested Mr. Smith change his shirt and wash his hands with bleach and later hid Mr. Madison's .380-caliber semiautomatic handgun in a bureau drawer in the Jefferson Street apartment shared by the two brothers.According to Ms. Ago, Mr. Young later told her he buried the weapon, which was never recovered by investigators.“I miss Michelle so much and I know that there's nothing anyone can do,” Ms. Diaz's mother, Martha Vassar, said in an impact statement read in court before Mr. Young's sentencing.Displaying a poster with photographs of her daughter and the words, “In Loving Memory of Michelle L. Diaz,” Ms. Vassar, a single mother of four, said she had been left with only memories of her first-born child, a Worcester State University student who aspired to become a nurse.“That's all I have to live for,” she said. “My heart never stops crying.”Ms. Vassar told Judge Lemire she was “OK” with the sentence being recommended for Mr. Young. Mr. Young was given credit for 728 days he spent in custody awaiting trial.